I reached 55 a while ago and I constantly get messages asking why I am not prestiging. Here is my answer in a hopefully not tl;dr response:

1) Broken Game

It took me forever to get to 55, and honestly I don't feel like going through the process again while dealing with these issues:

Lag compensation exists and it is out of control.

The brand spanking new red bar connection issue awful.

Headglitching around every corner.

Spawn system is geared to get you killed from behind constantly.

2) Running and Gunning

Treyarch went out of their way to make this game a run and gun mess for the following reasons:

They nuked "Ghost" so you can't sit still ever while a UAV is (almost always) up.

Small maps.

Bad spawn system necessitates constant movement.

SMGs and pistols are now the most powerful weapons.

3) No Incentive

Yes I know that you run out of unlock tokens, but here is the thing:

You rarely need more than 5 custom classes.

Most of the scorestreaks aren't realistically obtainable.

The weapons are pretty vanilla and you only need a few.

I fully realize that some people prestige because it keeps the game fresh, and I was the same way with all the other CODs, but I guess I see no reason to try and keep this game fresh unless they make some MAJOR adjustments to the problems and inconsistent gameplay issues.

Also, please keep in mind that there are few examples of a company making HUGE adjustments to their product when they already made a major profit and have no financial incentive to go back and fix their initial product (don't act like a large majority of customers aren't sheep will not purchase season passes).

I agree with you. Same reason I prestige. No sense in paying for a whole game when your only going to play a tenth of it. It's like buying a whole pie, taking one bite and then throwing the rest away. It makes no sense to me, but to each their own. Also, if you are planning on playing the game for the whole year why not get to the end and unlock everything. Would make for a funner game knowing you can use anything you want.

...No sense in paying for a whole game when your only going to play a tenth of it. It's like buying a whole pie, taking one bite and then throwing the rest away....

Building on your pie analogy:

Buying this game is like buying a pie and then realizing someone had taken a dump in it, but you still try to eat it because all the other pies you bought before it didn't have massive turds in them.

I would consider prestiging if the game actually worked the way it should, but the simple fact is that there are too many problems with this game and I don't plan on playing it in the same consistent manner I did with all the other COD games.

Yes, the game does have issues at this present moment and I don't blame you for not prestiging. I have not played the last couple of days (partly because of what everyone is experiencing) I have always hit the prestige button to keep things fresh. I hit max prestige in BO1 and stopped playing it, as I saw almost no reason to continue. I still played to fill the void prior to MW3's release.

Yeah. There are just too many problems to enjoy the ranking up progress.

I know that prestiging doesn't measure skill and has always only been a measurement of time spent playing, but this is the first game that it has actually felt like a slow and unenjoyable process to move through the ranks.

Personally I could care less if people prestige or not. I do it because I enjoy it and attempting to comple every single challenge. Sure things like diamond on every class, 1000 kills with every weapon, 500 kills under orbital vast, etc take forever, but it gives you a varying multiplayer experience compared to shooting people in the face with the exact same perks, gun, and style of play that you do every second of every game.

I feel exactly the opposite. This is the first time prestige isn't punishing and excruciating by resetting challenges. I prestiged once in WaW and BO1 because that was as far as I could bring myself to go in those games, and 5 times each in MW2 and MW3. After a while I get sick of losing my attachments, my headshot counts and challenges, and once I got all my extra class slots I stopped. Now I can prestige without losing anything other than temprary access to gear I will re-earn later.

I don't think prestige should come at the cost of resetting all your challenges.

I prestige because it gets boring playing the game and not earning xp. I like having goals in my game play. Keeps me using different weapons and different tactics. Otherwise I would use the same guns over and over and over. Once I hit the max on a COD I always stop playing because I just don't enjoy not getting xp.

I didn't read any of the OP, but, the main incentive I've had for prestiging is because there are more unlockable items than there are unlock tokens... Also, additional create-a-class slots.

I'm currently in the process of getting diamond for all of the weapons... So, I've paused myself on 5th prestige with all of the weapons unlocked, along with suitable perks, some equipment & primary/secondary gunfighter.

I do it only because I want to and I like having 10 classes to play around with. It's certainly not a requirement though. I figure that I plan on playing this game for a year so I might as well have something to do along the way. I even prestiged the Chicom last night which I thought that I'd never do considering how bad that gun is without a laser sight. But I got the laser sight back in the first match that I used it, so I'm feeling better about that decision now.

I have to admit though that I find it odd why some folks feel the need to have an opinion much less vocalize it about wanting someone else to prestige. I remember a kid complaining when I was lvl 55 no prestige that "I was probably one of those players that never prestiged" and he went on to apply his choice of slanderous descriptions of me. Not that it's any of his business but I hadn't completed ranking up in the level past 55 to have the option to prestige yet. I didn't respond but I made sure to thoughly kick his butt in the next round. Much to his dismay he was quite helpful in getting me some xp to get to that first prestige .

I didn't enjoy going through the first 55 levels either, but I found being at 55 for a while I got bored. Much better the second time around since I was able to unlock ghost and also because the game has been playing much better since the latest patch. I think I'm going to reset my stats and see how it goes this time, might stay at 55 depending on how it goes.

I actually have a verbal emblem that says: "Affraid 2 prestige U Wuss"

But I just have that to goad people. I don't message anybody that seems rather extreme.

I do it for the challenge and really don't care if someone else prestiges or not. You paid for the game enjoy it your way. IMO if you're going to play the game a lot I don't understand why you wouldn't want to challenge yourself.

I prestige until I have my last CAC which will be at prestige 5, Once that is done there is absolutely no other reason for me to prestige. I do not care about the eblems, or the player cards. So those have no importance or incentive for me to continue to prestige.

At that point I just work on teh guns I like and that is it. I do not need all weapons, perks, equipment unlocked. because I never use them all. Nor do I care about getting to gold on all of them to get diamon cammo. Cammo's mean nothing since they do nothing for the gun itself.